Gordon Soderberg writes: On September, 1st 2006 I got a link to this editorial called "Katrina Reflections" by Joseph W. Heston, President and General Manager of KSBW 8 in Santa Cruz, California. After I read it, I thought, this was a clear example of how the "commercial media" is pandering to the governments advertizing budgets.

I believe he needed to address all the flack that his pandering partners at the United Way, Red Cross and Salvation Army were getting in during the anniversary week of Katrina. Who knows maybe he got a call from the advertizing firm hired by the United Way, Red Cross or Salvation Army. One that might have said to get something good on T.V. Maybe the call was due to the fact that donations were dropping faster than the bombs in Iraq? Or maybe he didn't need a call since Heston is a member of the Board of the United Way of Monterey County...

Too bad he could not actually talk about the fact that most of the volunteers from Santa Cruz did not go to the Gulf Coast as United Way, Red Cross or Salvation Army. He knew he could not claim otherwize because of independent media sources like (http://www.indybay.org/santacruz/) documented the efforts of the people of Santa Cruz very well. Read more

SC-IMC coverage of local relief efforts: Audio, Photos and Written Reports from Houston and New Orleans || Santa Cruz Sends Relief to Louisiana || Malik Rahim Speaks About the Grassroots Response to Hurricane Katrina || Santa Cruz Billboard Shows Remarkable Candor || Gulf Coast Communities Still Need Help from Santa Cruz